1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to surgery and surgical procedures and, more specifically, to surgery involving cutting of bone tissue, such as orthopedic, cardiac, and neurological surgery, wherein bleeding of bone tissue is to be stopped.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various medical, veterinary, and dental surgical procedures involve the cutting of bone tissue during the operation. Examples of such procedures are laminectomies, craniotomies, and cardiac surgery procedures involving splitting of the sternum. Typically, the bone tissue is cut with a rongeur or a saw.
As with other living tissue, bone tissue of animals and humans bleeds when it is cut. Accordingly, a means for stopping the bleeding is required. For many years, compositions generally known as bone wax have been used to dress the bone tissue and retard its bleeding. While bone wax compositions have been found that are effective, no devices or surgical procedures have been developed so that the bone wax can be effectively and conveniently applied to the bleeding bone tissue.
Typically, surgical bone wax is sold in sterile packages that are opened at the time when the bone wax is to be applied. The bone wax is applied to the tissue in various ways. Some surgeons shape an amount of bone wax into a suitable form such as a ball and press it into the tissue either with their gloved hand or a suitable surgical instrument. When the bone wax is applied in this manner, it must then be distributed over the entire surface where the bone tissue has been cut to dress the bleeding tissue. If this is done with a surgical instrument, an incomplete distribution of bone wax sometimes results. The bone wax can be better distributed, if the surgeon uses his gloved hand to smooth the bone wax over the bleeding bone tissue. However, the surgeon risks contamination of the operative field if he should tear or puncture his glove on the exposed bone, and risks infection of his hand as well if it is punctured by a bone spicule. Accordingly, many surgeons have used surgical patties to distribute the bone wax over the bone tissue.
Disadvantages and difficulties have appeared with all these prior art devices and techniques. The package in which the bone wax is provided is small and somewhat awkward to open in a sterile operative field. Moreover, each application of bone wax required at least two steps in the surgical procedure. In a typical orthopedic or neurosurgical operation in which bone wax is used, as many as several dozen separate applications of bone wax may be made. Therefore, the additional steps for applying bone wax consume a considerable portion of the time necessary for the operation. For example, in a neurosurgical operation requiring four hours, as much as 10 to 30 minutes may be spent in merely applying bone wax. Accordingly, a device and method for applying bone wax more efficiently and effectively would benefit the patient by lowering his exposure to possible sources of contamination, and by reducing the time that he would be under anesthesia.